Elevator car and shaft sliding door



Oct. 15, 1940. KLE|N 2,218,068

ELEVATOR CAR AND SHAFT SLIDING DOOR Filed May 13, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.1.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY Oct. 15, 1940. E. KLEIN ELEVATOR CAR, AND SHAFT SLIDING DOOR Filed ma 15, 1938 FIG. 4.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Illllllllllllllll.

Y E N R O T T A INVENTOR m e K U m E. L

Oct. 15,, 1940. E. KLEIN ELEVATOR CAR AND SHAFT SLIDING DOOR Filed May 13, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FlG.q.

U mm E Y Patented Oct. 15, 1940 UITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i 2,218,068 7 v ELEVATOR CAR. AND SHAFT SLIDING noon Louis Elihu Klein, Bronx, N. Y.

. Application May 13, 1938, Serial No. 207,671

2 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in elevator car and'shaft sliding doors and is applicable to elevator jobs that are being made over, remodeled, or where space conditions on new construction jobs are such as to warrant its use.

Large strides have been made in the elevator art in the last few years, particularly in the automatic operation of the elevators. This has I resulted in numerous old installations being remodeled and new equipment being installed. The arrangement of the car and shaft doors has become a particular problem.

Practically the universal mode of closure for the old type of elevator cars was the collapsible sliding gate. This has come very much into disfavor in the automatic operated elevators, one reason being that with no operator to warn the passengers to keep away from the gate they will often be injured by being caught in the gate when it is collapsed and another reason being that a passenger has a better feeling of safety when the door opening is closed by a solid door or panel and he cannot see the shaft walls when the car is moving.

In all up-to-date jobs the collapsible gate is superseded by solid sliding doors or panels. Naturally the door has to be accommodated when it is moved to its open position and the door takes up considerably more room than the gate in its collapsed position. In new jobs that are being installed in new buildings ,these conditions are generally provided for; however, the use of the invention on new installations is by no means precluded, as it sometimes happens the architect, due to conditions, provides an unusually small hatchway.

In remodeling old jobs, or in new jobs, it is essentialthat a certain width of door opening be provided for. The car will often be so narrow that when the proper width of door is provided there will not be suflicient space left to house the door when it is slid to its open position. To compensate for this condition a twospeed or double door must be used. The twospeed or double door costs considerably more to install, the maintenance charges are higher and the double door takes up additional room in a car, which space, particularly in a small car, is sorely needed. Sometimes in an extremely narrow car a two-speed door cannot be housed and the proper dooropeningmaintained.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simpleattachment for the door so as to maintain the proper door opening and to permit of a single door being used where a two-speed door would otherwise be required and to permit of the use of a two-speed door and still maintain the proper door opening where there would not ordinarily be sufficient room to accomplish this. The invention will be fully described in .the following specification and illustrated in the drawings forming a part thereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional plan view showing thecar door in its closed position; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional plan view' showing the car door in its open or retracted position;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 4; i I

Fig. 4 is a front View showing the car door and door storage space, the shaft walls being in section;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional plan View showing the invention applied to a two-speed door, the door being in the closed position;

, Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 with the doors in the open position; I

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary sectional plan view showing the invention applied in a slightly dif- 5 ferent form to a two-speed door, the door being in the closed position;'

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 with the doors in the open position;

I Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional plan view showing a slightly different form of the invention. the doors being in the closed position;

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9, the doors being inthe open position; and

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary detail sectional View of another modified form.

The drawings illustrate the improvement as being applied to the elevator car'doors. It is to be understood it is just as applicable to the shaft doors, but for simplicity of illustration the 40 shaft doors are shown as simple swing doors.

In the drawings the reference numeral Ill designates the elevator shaft and H the car. The car guiding means, hoisting means, automatic controls for the car starting and stopping, and the automatic means for the door opening and closing are well known and are not thought necessary to illustrate. Attention is first directed to Figs. 1 to 4.

The door opening is indicated by the numeral i2, the door by the numeral I3 and the pocket, or door storage space by the numeral 14. It is to be assumed the door opening is the minimum width required by building specifications. It will be apparent from an inspection of the drawings that if a door the same width as the opening were utilized it could not be accommodated in the door storage space. In ordinary practice this would call for a two-speed or double door such as is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. As heretofore stated, the two-speed door involves considerably more expense in installation and maintenance charges and occupies more room, thus taking away valuable space from the interior of the car.

To overcome this serious difficulty and permit of a single door being used under these circumstances the door is provided, coextensive with one of its vertical edges, with an automatic extensible or collapsible shoe i5. The shoe as illustrated is angle shaped in cross section and has two or more pins l6 secured in its short leg l1. These pins pass through guiding bushings I 8 in the door l3 and thence into suitable apertures l9. Springs 29 are interposed between the legs L- I! and bushings l8 and these springs always tend to hold the shoe I 5 in its extended position. To insure the shoe remaining in sliding contact with the door and to limit the movement in the extended position, it may be provided with one or more slots 2!, through which suitable guide pins or bolts 22 pass, the bolts or pins being secured in the door. The shoe may be of various shapes and other guiding means may be employed. One or more storm 23 are secured to the car at the inner end of the door storage space M.

Well known guiding means for the doors such as slots in a floor plate may be used. As illustrated, the shaft doors 2% are swinging doors but, as heretofore stated, they may be of the same construction as the car doors.

In Fig. 1 the car door is shown in its closed position and the shoe is fully extended so as to compensate for the lack of width of the door and to provide a complete closure. In Fig. 2 the car door 23 is shown in its open or retracted position. It will be noted in this figure the short leg I"! of the shoe i5 is abutting the stops 23 and the springs 2!] have been compressed.

Attention is directed to Figs. 5 and 6 in which is illustrated a particularly narrow car I i where it would be impossible toaccommodate even a two-speed door and still maintain the required width of car door opening. Under these conditions practically the only possible solution would be to install the old type collapsible gate with its objectionable faults, as heretofore explained. A three-speed door might be employed, but it would be prohibitive due to its expense and the room it would occupy. In these figures similar parts bear similar reference characters and the twospeed or double-door is indicated by the reference numerals and 3|.

The automatic collapsible extensible shoe i5 is applied to one of the vertical edges of one of the doors and is coextensive with the length of the door. As illustrated, it is applied to the vertical edge of the door 3| and as shown in Fig. 5 in its extended position it completely closes the door opening. In the retracted position of the door, as shown in Fig. 6, the shoe abuts the stops 23 and the springs 20 are compressed in a similar manner to that described in connection with Figs. 1 to 4.

Reference will now be had to Figs. 7 and 8 in which a two-speed door is illustrated. When the car is particularly narrow even in using a twospeed door the single shoe l5 might be unduly wide and thus render it clumsy and unwieldy to handle. To overcome this difficulty the shoe 15 on the slow door 3| may be narrowed and an additional shoe may be positioned on the vertical edge of the fast door 30. The stops 23 may be lengthened somewhat and, as illustrated in Fig. 8, the automatic collapsible extensible shoes l5 and 35 abut the stops 23 and compress the springs when the two-speed door is in its open position. 7

In Figs. 9 and 10 a slightly different form of the invention is illustrated. In this form the automatic collapsible extensible shoe is made T-shaped in cross-section and the springs 20 are eliminated. To insure the shoe being extended when the door is being moved from its open to its closed position the inner leg 4! of the T engages a stop 42. In the open door position, as shown in Fig. 10, the shoe engages the stop 23 and is collapsed.

The guide pins l6 are shown in this form as in the other forms. However, for the sake of simplicity they might be omitted and, as illustrated in Fig. 11, the shoe 4:: might be L-shaped in crosssection and depend upon the guide bolts 46 and slots ill to guide and position it.

Such changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts as would occur to one skilled in the art are to be considered as coming within the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A sliding elevator door having an extensible shoe of single thickness co-extensive with one of its vertical edges, spring means for urging said shoe away from said door and means for guiding said shoe and limiting its movement in the extended position, said means comprising a slotted connection with the door, and said shoe in its extended position being adapted with the door to completely close the door opening and in its retracted position being adapted to rest adjacent the door.

2. A sliding elevator door having an extensible shoe of single thickness coextensive with one of its vertical edges, a plurality of pins carried by said shoe, sockets in said door to accommodate said pins, springs surrounding said pins to urge said shoe away from said door, and means for guiding said shoe and limiting its movement in the extended position, said means comprising a slotted connection with the door, and said shoe in its extended position being adapted with the door to completely close the door opening and in its retracted position being adapted to rest adjacent the door.

L. ELIHU KLEIN. 

